Mobile phone usage has reached the point where the majority of people in developed nations own one. Many people today have access to information via a personal computer or other Web-enabled device and also own a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA). Modern mobile phones are loaded with a variety of features such as a digital camera, messaging features, and an ability to download and playback multimedia files, in addition to more traditional features such as storing the user's address book or a contact list.
Some providers offer alerts service that allows mobile phone users to receive emails or text messages on their mobile phone notifying them, for example, of local events, weather forecast, or business news. Text messages are typically SMS messages. SMS, Short Message Service, usually refers to wireless alphanumeric text messages sent to a mobile phone. While a mobile phone user may be interested in viewing particular content in multimedia format, the alerts are delivered to the user's mobile phone as text messages.
With the advent in the versatility of the mobile phones it is becoming more and more desirable for a user to be able to subscribe to and receive alerts in a multimedia format.